english,
‘43.7696, 11.2558; 7 days' The contents of an email I received from a nameless source. At first I was thinking of sending it to my spam folder, but in light of recent events, it seemed too much to be a simple coincidence.
It all began a few days ago, when a mysterious broadcast was heard across all of Earth’s frequencies. Unfortunately, we did not have the necessary technology in order to decipher the broadcast. Because of that, all that could be heard at the time was static in an infinite loop. Most people simply ignored it, thinking it was just a broken radio tower. However, I knew that it was more than that, that whoever – or whatever is causing it will not have gone through all the effort of broadcasting it everywhere if weren’t at all significant. I spent the last twelve hours observing the broadcast, monitoring possible changes or fluctuations, basically anything that would give me a clue to find out the truth behind it. Something like the email!
The numbers themselves were a mystery, but whoever sent it was very specific of the date. Seven days from now, December 22nd, the winter solstice. It took me a little more than a few minutes, but I think I started to understand the message. If my calculations were correct, my destination should be Florence, Italy, where I’ll be one step closer to the truth.
Preparations and the trip itself took four days, leaving me with three to solve a mystery I knew almost nothing about. “Great, I do love a challenge,” I thought to myself.
I looked around the surrounding area for anything that was out of the ordinary. However, my search proved to be unfruitful; I was relieved and at the same time a little disappointed. With that out of the way, I thought about what on Florence could pique the interest of someone capable of sending a ‘universal broadcast.’ “Of course!” I exclaimed.
Upon making my way to the workshop of a renowned inventor, which was now turned into a museum, I slipped passed the guards and got into the restricted area. Unsurprisingly, much of his work had been lost through the course of history. Luckily, blueprints and designs were left in his workshop, neatly compiled and arranged by the museum staff. After reading through the various schematics I realized that it was not that we did not yet have the technology to read the broadcast, but rather we no longer had it. I later stumble across one of the inventor’s journals, which pointed me to the next piece of the puzzle. It was hidden somewhere in the capital: Rome.
“If man were to achieve enlightenment and tranquility, then even the edges of the universe would be within his reach,” read a passage I roughly translated from the journal. It sounded very philosophical, but it felt like it was a vital part of solving this mystery.
December 21st, one day before the winter solstice, one day before I’d had to have the answers. I was stuck, the perfect word to describe my current situation would’ve been “donk." I translated another line from the journal, something about soaring to the stars through the eye of the universe. But I simply didn’t have enough information, not if I wanted to have this wrapped up by tomorrow.
I took a couple of deep breaths, hoping it would clear my mind. I took small sips of my water and all of a sudden, I got an idea. It was a long-shot, but it was a guess as good as any.
“The fountain! Why didn’t I see it sooner!” I hated myself for not immediately seeing the connection, now I had less than a day before God knows what happens. I rushed to the Trevi fountain and searched the premises for something with the liking of the Vitruvian Man. After a long search, there it was. Lost amongst the countless coins thrown into the fountain from afar, it looked like any ordinary coin, but upon closer inspection, it could be seen that its maker paid close attention to detail. “This can only be his work” I thought to myself. I also seemed to be on the right path. “Now that I have the key, I wonder what door it unlocks?” After a moment of thought, I continued, “Soar to the stars through the eye of the universe...could it be?”
Today was the day, the 7th day from when I first came across the strange email. I hurried over to the Pantheon, because somehow, I knew that finding the key was far from the final piece of the puzzle. The sun was already setting by the time I arrived. It was the winter solstice after all. I entered the building and the sun’s light shined gently through the sky roof. Pacing toward the middle of the Pantheon, I found a groove on the floor, which seemed to be exactly the size of the coin. The ground shook as I pressed the coin into the groove, revealing a massive stairway to a basement which held all of his lost inventions.
I was more than amazed at first, but seeing how close I was to solving this mystery, I couldn't waste any more time. The machines themselves seemed to be a little off for the purpose they were initially made for, however, the journal mentioned that they all fit together, forming a mechanism that was "beyond magnificent."
It took quite a while to figure out how each individual piece of the mechanism fit together. “I think I got it,” I thought to myself as I peered up into the roof of the Pantheon, revealing a starry night sky. I sat the aerodynamically unstable helicopter, pulled the trigger, and the mechanism went to work. Each piece helped build the momentum for the final push, which launched the machine into the air. I whispered to myself, "Roll the dice of destiny, where it lands, you'll know soon enough."
I soared right through the Pantheon's sunroof, straight to the stars, through the eye of the universe. Soon after, the sound of a familiar static was picked up by the machine's radio, except that after a few seconds, it was seemingly translated. It turned out to be a distress signal from an extraterrestrial ship. "Stuck in planet's orbit! Will crash soon; Mayday, mayday!" stuck in a loop. I honestly had no idea how to fly the vessel, but fortunately, it seemed to hone in on the source of the signal. After a while, the image of the town below me became smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared from the horizon, whereas the stars seemed to be just as far as ever.
Upon exiting the atmosphere, my ship was caught in the tractor beam of another, much larger ship. It wasn't like those UFOs one may see on TV. It looked more like a sailing ship, slightly modified to traverse in a three-dimensional manner. I was invited to board the other ship, an invitation I gladly accepted.
"My old friend! Glad to see you again!" said an unfamiliar voice as I entered the ship's bridge. Standing in the middle was an ordinary human, sprouting clothes that were akin to those in the renaissance period, however something about him told me he wasn't what he appeared to be. We stood in silence for a while. "I don't think we've met before," I managed to reply.
The man was nearly as confused as I was. "Were you expecting someone else?" I asked him. "Well of course I was! That is his ship after all," he said. "It doesn't matter now, does it? If you're an associate of his and he sent you to help me fix my ship, then the sooner we begin, the better." he continued, trying to act composed despite his still obvious confusion.
"About that..." I said, trying to find the best way to explain the situation. "I think you may be a hundred years too late, because the man you're looking for has been dead for just about as long." I proceed to share my adventure, from the mysterious broadcast and email, to finding a launching mechanism within the Pantheon. "So what you're saying is that you know nothing about fixing a space vessel?" he asked at the end of my tale. "That would be the logical conclusion, yes."
Our eyes met as we both reach an understanding: we were now both stuck in this, and only a miracle would get us out. As the 22nd nearly came to an end, the ship started to descend from orbit, and began crashing into the Earth’s atmosphere. "So this is it, huh?" I mused.
"Yes. Final destination: 34.0232 N, 84.3616 W. I believe I've had a good run. How about you?"
"Well I have always been curious about something, but I guess it's a bit too late now. I’ve always asked myself, ‘What is the meaning of life?’"
The ship accelerated faster and faster as it descended further into the atmosphere. The hull barely holding itself together . Despite all that, the man just smiled and said "That's your question? Well of course it's..."
Literary: 42
It all began a few days ago, when a mysterious broadcast was heard across all of Earth’s frequencies. Unfortunately, we did not have the necessary technology in order to decipher the broadcast. Because of that, all that could be heard at the time was static in an infinite loop. Most people simply ignored it, thinking it was just a broken radio tower. However, I knew that it was more than that, that whoever – or whatever is causing it will not have gone through all the effort of broadcasting it everywhere if weren’t at all significant. I spent the last twelve hours observing the broadcast, monitoring possible changes or fluctuations, basically anything that would give me a clue to find out the truth behind it. Something like the email!
The numbers themselves were a mystery, but whoever sent it was very specific of the date. Seven days from now, December 22nd, the winter solstice. It took me a little more than a few minutes, but I think I started to understand the message. If my calculations were correct, my destination should be Florence, Italy, where I’ll be one step closer to the truth.
Preparations and the trip itself took four days, leaving me with three to solve a mystery I knew almost nothing about. “Great, I do love a challenge,” I thought to myself.
I looked around the surrounding area for anything that was out of the ordinary. However, my search proved to be unfruitful; I was relieved and at the same time a little disappointed. With that out of the way, I thought about what on Florence could pique the interest of someone capable of sending a ‘universal broadcast.’ “Of course!” I exclaimed.
Upon making my way to the workshop of a renowned inventor, which was now turned into a museum, I slipped passed the guards and got into the restricted area. Unsurprisingly, much of his work had been lost through the course of history. Luckily, blueprints and designs were left in his workshop, neatly compiled and arranged by the museum staff. After reading through the various schematics I realized that it was not that we did not yet have the technology to read the broadcast, but rather we no longer had it. I later stumble across one of the inventor’s journals, which pointed me to the next piece of the puzzle. It was hidden somewhere in the capital: Rome.
“If man were to achieve enlightenment and tranquility, then even the edges of the universe would be within his reach,” read a passage I roughly translated from the journal. It sounded very philosophical, but it felt like it was a vital part of solving this mystery.
December 21st, one day before the winter solstice, one day before I’d had to have the answers. I was stuck, the perfect word to describe my current situation would’ve been “donk." I translated another line from the journal, something about soaring to the stars through the eye of the universe. But I simply didn’t have enough information, not if I wanted to have this wrapped up by tomorrow.
I took a couple of deep breaths, hoping it would clear my mind. I took small sips of my water and all of a sudden, I got an idea. It was a long-shot, but it was a guess as good as any.
“The fountain! Why didn’t I see it sooner!” I hated myself for not immediately seeing the connection, now I had less than a day before God knows what happens. I rushed to the Trevi fountain and searched the premises for something with the liking of the Vitruvian Man. After a long search, there it was. Lost amongst the countless coins thrown into the fountain from afar, it looked like any ordinary coin, but upon closer inspection, it could be seen that its maker paid close attention to detail. “This can only be his work” I thought to myself. I also seemed to be on the right path. “Now that I have the key, I wonder what door it unlocks?” After a moment of thought, I continued, “Soar to the stars through the eye of the universe...could it be?”
Today was the day, the 7th day from when I first came across the strange email. I hurried over to the Pantheon, because somehow, I knew that finding the key was far from the final piece of the puzzle. The sun was already setting by the time I arrived. It was the winter solstice after all. I entered the building and the sun’s light shined gently through the sky roof. Pacing toward the middle of the Pantheon, I found a groove on the floor, which seemed to be exactly the size of the coin. The ground shook as I pressed the coin into the groove, revealing a massive stairway to a basement which held all of his lost inventions.
I was more than amazed at first, but seeing how close I was to solving this mystery, I couldn't waste any more time. The machines themselves seemed to be a little off for the purpose they were initially made for, however, the journal mentioned that they all fit together, forming a mechanism that was "beyond magnificent."
It took quite a while to figure out how each individual piece of the mechanism fit together. “I think I got it,” I thought to myself as I peered up into the roof of the Pantheon, revealing a starry night sky. I sat the aerodynamically unstable helicopter, pulled the trigger, and the mechanism went to work. Each piece helped build the momentum for the final push, which launched the machine into the air. I whispered to myself, "Roll the dice of destiny, where it lands, you'll know soon enough."
I soared right through the Pantheon's sunroof, straight to the stars, through the eye of the universe. Soon after, the sound of a familiar static was picked up by the machine's radio, except that after a few seconds, it was seemingly translated. It turned out to be a distress signal from an extraterrestrial ship. "Stuck in planet's orbit! Will crash soon; Mayday, mayday!" stuck in a loop. I honestly had no idea how to fly the vessel, but fortunately, it seemed to hone in on the source of the signal. After a while, the image of the town below me became smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared from the horizon, whereas the stars seemed to be just as far as ever.
Upon exiting the atmosphere, my ship was caught in the tractor beam of another, much larger ship. It wasn't like those UFOs one may see on TV. It looked more like a sailing ship, slightly modified to traverse in a three-dimensional manner. I was invited to board the other ship, an invitation I gladly accepted.
"My old friend! Glad to see you again!" said an unfamiliar voice as I entered the ship's bridge. Standing in the middle was an ordinary human, sprouting clothes that were akin to those in the renaissance period, however something about him told me he wasn't what he appeared to be. We stood in silence for a while. "I don't think we've met before," I managed to reply.
The man was nearly as confused as I was. "Were you expecting someone else?" I asked him. "Well of course I was! That is his ship after all," he said. "It doesn't matter now, does it? If you're an associate of his and he sent you to help me fix my ship, then the sooner we begin, the better." he continued, trying to act composed despite his still obvious confusion.
"About that..." I said, trying to find the best way to explain the situation. "I think you may be a hundred years too late, because the man you're looking for has been dead for just about as long." I proceed to share my adventure, from the mysterious broadcast and email, to finding a launching mechanism within the Pantheon. "So what you're saying is that you know nothing about fixing a space vessel?" he asked at the end of my tale. "That would be the logical conclusion, yes."
Our eyes met as we both reach an understanding: we were now both stuck in this, and only a miracle would get us out. As the 22nd nearly came to an end, the ship started to descend from orbit, and began crashing into the Earth’s atmosphere. "So this is it, huh?" I mused.
"Yes. Final destination: 34.0232 N, 84.3616 W. I believe I've had a good run. How about you?"
"Well I have always been curious about something, but I guess it's a bit too late now. I’ve always asked myself, ‘What is the meaning of life?’"
The ship accelerated faster and faster as it descended further into the atmosphere. The hull barely holding itself together . Despite all that, the man just smiled and said "That's your question? Well of course it's..."
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